Monty Python and the Holy Grail 40th Anniversary
The screening was for the 40th Anniversary of the Film, but also to commemorate the 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta. Quite how the Holy Grail relates to the Magna Carta I'm not sure, the link seems a bit tenuous - but that's how it came to be, and be held at the British Library. The British Library is not the London Library - much like the British Museum is a museum of world treasures distinct from the Museum of London which is about London, or even the Museum of England (if such a thing exists - I don't think so); and so the British Library is not the London Library, it is a Library of precious books from all over the world. You can't take books out of the Library and you have to get a special pass to enter the different library rooms to look at the books. In my mind, the British Library is the modern Library of Alexandria and of course the British Library holds most of the remaining existing copies of the Magna Carta. It had an exhibition of the Magna Carta for the anniversary - interesting, but not really interesting to me enough that I would want to go to the library specifically for that exhibition.
The screening was Tuesday 18th August - and I'd only got back from Europe with Dion on the 16th. So it was only earlier on in the day that I caught up on the details with Sasha and where to meet and everything. "The movie screens at 8.45pm but Q&A session-" - okay, so its not just a talk, but a Questions and Answers session, cool - "... starts at 7.30pm so we'd need to be there in time to get good seats to see that. And its with Michael Palin so it should be good." Wait WHAT!!! Michael Palin! the Python will be Michael Palin!!!!! NO FREAKIN WAY!!!!!
This is going to sound stupid, but it never entered my head that the Python might be Michael Palin. Had I read the link properly in the first place that Sasha had sent me back in Europe, I could have realised then that it was with him. I had been excited to go, but now all of a sudden that excitement had increased about 10-fold. I had grown up knowing that Michael Palin was a Python, but Python was not where I had first come across him. I recall Mum and Dad getting the book "Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin", which was the write-up of the TV series that he did where he travelled around the world. I don't recall watching the TV show itself when it was on, although I'm sure Mum & Dad did but a few years later when the sequel show "Pole to Pole" came out, I definitely remember watching that and a few similar programs after. And of course, watching him in Python as well. He is a very funny man, and comes across as very kind hearted and genuine on TV. And somewhat unknowingly, I was going to get the opportunity to find out if he was like that in real life! Just wow!
So myself and Sasha met up at Kings Cross St Pancras, and walked to the British Library. We joined a queue, and were greeted by a knight of the round table complete with coconuts. Tim the Enchanter was there too, as we found out when we got yelled at - "NO CANOODLING!" (after which Sasha ended up getting to have a go with the Knights coconuts, with me trying to keep pace with her clapping) - and a few others dressed up in costumes from the film and acting the part. Upon getting to the front of the line and our wristbands, we then processed into a large Lecture theatre which was already fairly full but we found some good seats up back. Then, it was a matter of waiting until the appointed time, though Tim the Enchanter kept us entertained by making a little fun of the occasional latecomers who would process in. Then Michael and his interviewer, historian Dan Jones arrived and sat down to applause. I don't know who Dan Jones is exactly and whether he's known for anything, but his name was fairly heavily billed on the screen while we were waiting and he seemed to ask questions like he was very comfortable in front of a crowd and acted like a bit of a celebrity himself. He might be, but I don't know him and it came across as a little pompous. A lot of the questions were about the making of the film, the concept, the lack of money before the questions were thrown open to the audience at which point the hilarity was taken up a notch. Since I cannot adequately relay what he said in any fitting way myself, how about we let Mr Palin do some of the talking?
Hamlet
It did not work out like that, however. One evening, I got a message from Sasha saying she needed to ask me a few questions. It went something like this:
"Are you free on the 21st August?", she asked. "Yes" I replied.
"Do you like Shakespeare?" she asked. "Yes..."
"Do you like Benedict Cumberpatch?" she asked. "Hell yeah I frickin do" I said.
"Good...I was hoping you'd say that. Want to come see Hamlet with me starring Benedict Cumberpatch?" YES!
It was then that Sasha revealed quite how long she'd had the tickets for - about a year, and they'd sold out the day they went on sale (as everything in London does). They were like gold now, she could probably have sold that ticket for twice the value of what she paid for both seats and then some. But I was the lucky one who would get to go with her! Unbelievable. It had never occurred to me I might go see Shakespeare somewhere else other than The Globe, and only briefly occurred to me that I might see Benedict Cumberpatch on the stage - when coming back from Swansea last Christmas, I somehow had picked up a brochure for Theatre shows in Swansea and Benedict Cumberpatch was starring in one of them for one night only - come to think of it, I think it could have been Hamlet. I remember the date was going to be very far off, and I have some suspicion I looked it up and found tickets were sold out. But here I was, going to see one of the acting stars of the current age in Theatre no less, performing the titular character in a Shakespearian play. If you don't know who Benedict Cumberpatch is, I suggest you Google his name - and if you don't recognise his picture, then you won't have seen anything on TV/Film and you won't understand why seeing him is a bit of a big deal. He is an excellent actor, and his modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (the show is called "Sherlock" and has Martin Freeman from The Office in it too - its very brilliant) is an absolute favourite show of mine.
Soon the curtain lifted, there was Benedict Cumberpatch himself, unmistakeably. Remember when I said that I didn't really know anything about Hamlet except the name? It was my intention to let this play educate me as to what it was all about, but earlier on in the day I decided to follow Sasha's suggestion and read up about the plot because the language might be hard to follow. So when the curtain lifted, and we saw Mr Cumberpatch I noted how he was dressed, and the items he had with him - and realised that the time period for this play we were about to see was not the original time period set out in the play. When we saw the actual set very shortly after, a very, very ornate and detailed set (it was all set in one big main room in the Palace, with a staircase and landing on the left hand side where a lot of the action took place), it was further proof that this was set in more modern times than Shakespeare's play. It took me a while to decide quite what time period it would be - in the end, I settled on early 1950's. There was something else about the opening scene which caught my attention - the actor who was playing the King, he looked and sounded a bit familiar and had quite a stage presence. Could it be that actor who played Caesar in the TV series Rome, and who was on Game of Thrones as The King Beyond the Wall? no surely not. Kinda seems like him? no? yes? no? not sure. One thing did become apparent, I was having trouble keeping up with all the language but thanks to reading the plot, I knew what was going on.
1984
A book that became a movie, and now has been adapted for the stage as well - and being played in London, the Theatre Capital of the World. I have never read the book, nor seen the movie but knew enough that when myself and Sasha discovered it was a theatre play, that I wanted to go - and so did she. While myself and Dion were away in Europe, Sasha caught wind of the fact that the play was soon ending - and organised tickets for her, myself and Dion to go. Tickets were funnily enough, £19.84! I did not choose to read up on the plot or premise - for this one, I felt it would be best to let the play do the talking.
Richmond Park
So yes - that's mostly what I got up to in between coming back from the Euradventure and heading off on the next adventure. Which, funnily enough, will be the subject of the next blog post...